


Through flames and stars

by ca_te



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: First Time, M/M, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-01
Updated: 2011-05-01
Packaged: 2017-10-18 20:51:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ca_te/pseuds/ca_te
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night Arthur finds himself dancing with Merlin...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through flames and stars

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to somerdaye for the beta :)

The lights of the flames slid up and down the stony walls and Arthur blinked, watching it. He had always had a weird fascination with fire since he was a kid. His nanny’d had to keep a close eye on him during winter nights when he would sit right in front of the fireplace. He hadn’t had people to read him fairy tales so everything was up to his imagination; through the dance of the flames he could see knights and dragons move about, fighting and flying.

 

But all he could see now were the lights and shadows playing on Merlin’s face. Arthur shook his head and fought to convince himself that he hadn’t just been almost mesmerized by the curve of Merlin’s neck or the softness of his smile. Beside him Gwaine gulped down a mouthful of ale and nudged him with an elbow. Arthur quirked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. His men were tired from the campaign and the long riding day; they had been lucky to find a inn in one of the villages along the road.

 

The weight of Gwaine’s arm over his shoulder took him by surprise, as did Lancelot’s quiet and soft laugh. He hadn’t had the chance to be _truly_ close to them since they were knighted, and even before that he hadn’t actually had the chance to see them for the men they were. He’d seen the potential knights, the brave men, but he hadn’t seen the crinkly eyes or the laughs. He didn’t do anything to push Gwaine away and he didn’t resist when the other man got up and pulled him to his feet.

 

He found himself standing in front of the fire in the middle of the big room. He tilted his head back to look at the hole in the ceiling. The smoke twisted and turned as it rose up towards the sky. The music too seemed to rise towards the stars blinking lazily up above, and the voices and the laughs joined them. Arthur wondered, once again, how it would feel to be like everyone else; how it would feel to be a peasant and not the son of an ill king.  Sometimes it just weighed too much on his shoulders, sometimes he had the sensation that his very bones were going to crack under it all.

 

Gwaine’s voice was warm and low in his right ear.

 

“C’mon, Arthur! You’re supposed to dance, not stand there like a pole!”

 

Arthur lowered his gaze and blinked. He didn’t have much time to think, though, before Gwaine pushed him and almost caused him to stumble into Merlin, who was standing there, watching him with those big blue eyes. Arthur swallowed, confused about whether his heart was doing weird things against his ribcage because of the amount of ale which he had drunken or for some other, unknown reason.

 

Merlin’s cheeks and ears were redder because of the heat from the flames. Arthur fought against the desire to reach out and touch them. He grinned when Merlin hiccupped and, almost without realizing it, he took a step towards his _friend._ Somehow the word didn’t sound right in Arthur’s mind; it wasn’t because of the social differences, Merlin had scattered Arthur’s beliefs in that respect since the very beginning. It was because what he felt for Merlin was way too complex to be summed up into a simple word. The other man was everything Arthur had never thought to need and everything that he couldn’t live without now. Sometimes he found himself wishing that he had already been in love with someone so that he could know if what he’d started feeling for Merlin could be called love or if it was something different.

 

He almost choked on his breath when Merlin took his hand. Merlin’s fingers were warm and long between his own and Arthur let Merlin guide him. The music twirled around them like wind, filled with flutes and mandolins. The notes filled a small and empty place just below Arthur’s heart; the place where all of Merlin’s smiles and gentle touches went. Yes, because Arthur liked to think that Merlin had a special kind of smile and that he was the only one allowed to see it.

 

Merlin’s hands were light as a bird’s wings over his shoulders, around his waist, and Arthur followed him more than the music. It felt _perfect_. Merlin was like fresh water as he moved and his eyes were twinkling like the stars, burning like the fire. At first he was worried about the other people, and above all his knights, seeing him dance with a servant - with another man. But, well, it was _Merlin_ he was dancing with and soon enough Arthur couldn’t concentrate on anything else; everyone else seemed to fade away.

 

He didn’t resist when Merlin took hold of his hand again and guided him outside. He gulped down the night air and felt something curl inside him like a cat at the sound of Merlin’s drunken giggles.  They walked in silence aimlessly until they reached the woods at the back of the small village. Merlin stopped and leaned against a trunk. Arthur stopped beside him, his head twirling and his heart pounding.

 

“You alright?”

 

Merlin nodded and looked straight at him. There was something about him that made Arthur tremble with the desire to reach out and simply overstep all the boundaries he himself had built to contain his affection.

 

“I am…and you, _Arthur_?”

 

Arthur had the sensation that there were so many things wrapped up in his name, too many things for a simple word, and he knew that he wouldn’t know what to say. Surely he couldn’t say something along the lines of “I’m not alright because every time I look at you everything else seems to lose meaning”. He swallowed and moved to stand in front of Merlin. He looked like some kind of fairy, his skin white as milk in the moonlight. Arthur pressed his hands against the trunk, one on either side of Merlin’s head. He felt a pang of pride at the thought that he was the cause of Merlin’s sharp intake of breath. He smiled and Merlin’s lips quirked up at the corners too.

 

It was Merlin who closed the distance between them, simple and perfect as only he could be. It was just a soft touch of lips before he pulled back and looked at Arthur, fear and hope entwining in his expression. Arthur didn’t hesitate; he just couldn’t afford to do that anymore, to lock away his feelings like that.

 

He gently licked at Merlin’s bottom lip and it took all his self-restraint not to moan loudly as Merlin’s tongue joined his own. He thought that it was yet another kind of dace, and that once again he and Merlin seemed to fit perfectly in each other’s space. He shivered as Merlin ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t break the kiss, sliding his slightly trembling hands under Merlin’s tunic.

 

Merlin’s skin was soft and warm; Arthur realized how much he had wanted this all along, since that first night when he had woken up with his mind filled with shreds of Merlin’s skin and eyes and hands. Merlin was sweet under his lips and he was gentle when he broke the kiss and took Arthur’s hand, walking deeper into the woods. Arthur followed with his thoughts spinning in his head like swallows and his heart hammering and echoing through his veins.

 

Merlin stopped when he reached a small clearing; the surrounding trees seemed to lean toward them, covering them from view. Arthur didn’t say a word nor did he resist when Merlin guided him to the ground. He found himself on top of his friend, staring into a pair of eyes dark as the night, the wetness of the grass pressing against his palms.  For an instant fear overcame him; he wanted Merlin, all of him, so much that it almost hurt, but he had never done anything like this before.

 

Merlin’s hands cupped his face and Arthur took in a deep breath, focusing on Merlin as he spoke, voice low and soft as the grass and as the night.

 

“You…you want this, right?”

 

Arthur couldn’t help but smile as affection bubbled up inside him at the hope and worry in Merlin’s voice.

 

“Of course I want this, just I…”

 

Once again Merlin seemed to understand without the need of words. He smiled gently and pulled him down. Arthur let himself sink into the kiss and let Merlin guide him, as if he was a kid who needed to be taken by the hand. Merlin’s fingers didn’t leave his own as he untied Merlin’s breeches and pulled them down his legs.

 

 _Beautiful_ was the only word that burnt brightly at the center of Arthur’s mind. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Merlin’s long, pale limbs. He wasn’t as skinny as Arthur had imagined - his muscles were defined under his skin. Merlin smiled and Arthur felt his cheek become hotter. Then Merlin’s fingers were dancing over his skin, undoing the laces of his shirt and of his trousers. Arthur lifted himself up just enough to slip out of his clothes. Merlin’s hands were light over his hipbones. Arthur leaned down again because he _needed_ to feel Merlin’s skin against his own. Merlin’s moan was low and it reverberated between their bodies - Arthur felt as if he were swimming through flames.

 

He watched silently as Merlin opened himself up for him, he felt like he should be praying, thanking the world, because he had Merlin, because such a wonderful creature was there for him. It was Merlin’s hand to guide him in that precious place where Arthur felt complete like he’d never been in his life. Merlin was tight and warm and so perfect, and as Arthur moved inside of him he thought that he’d just discovered how to fly and how to _live_.

 

Arthur didn’t feel like letting Merlin go, not even when they had to go back to the inn. And he didn’t care if his knights were with them during the ride back to Camelot, he still kept his horse close to Merlin’s along the way. Sometimes he would slip his hand over Merlin’s and his heart would swing around at the sight of Merlin’s shy smile.

 

At night, back in Camelot, Arthur smiled at the canopy over his head while Merlin slept, his head tucked in to Arthur’s shoulder. His breath was warm like a flower and as Arthur was falling asleep, he couldn’t stop the thoughts of flames and shiny blue eyes.


End file.
